celestial body

noun

variants or less commonly celestial object

plural celestial bodies also celestial objects

: an aggregation of matter in the universe (such as a planet, star, or nebula) that can be considered as a single unit (as for astronomical study)

But many scientists began seriously rethinking their notions of the solar system in 1992, when we identified a small celestial body—just a few hundred kilometers across—sited farther from the sun than any of the known planets.

—Jane X. Luu et al.

As the observer looks at a star or other celestial body its light rays pass through a single point on the earth's surface.

—Dutton's Navigation and Piloting, 14th edition

A black hole forms when a star or other celestial object collapses under the pull of its own gravity.

—Mary Durack Miller

called also heavenly body

Examples of celestial body in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Mars, for example, is the closest celestial body to Earth in terms of distance, but data shows its conditions are extremely hostile for life. —Jorge Garay, Wired News, 16 Apr. 2025

The challenge in deploying terrestrial technologies on celestial bodies arises from exposure to extremes of temperature and radiation on the moon's surface due to the absence of an atmosphere and magnetosphere on the moon. —William Lambers, Newsweek, 7 Mar. 2025

This includes both outer space and celestial bodies such as the Moon. —Wayne N White Jr, The Conversation, 31 Jan. 2025

As first predicted by Albert Einstein, gravitational lensing occurs when a massive celestial body causes a sufficient curvature of spacetime for the path of light around it to be visibly bent, as if by a lens. —Eric Lagatta, USA TODAY, 6 Jan. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1538, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for celestial body

• passamaquoddy
• afterbody
• antibody
• busybody
• everybody
• autoantibody
• bawdy
• gaudy
• khadi
• mahdi
• noddy
• oddi